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US security has opened an investigation into a major internet attack last Friday, during which some of the major sites of the global internet were incapacitated.

The cyberattack shut down major companies such as Netflix, Twitter, Spotify, Reddit, CNN, PayPal, Pinterest and Fox News, newspapers such as the Guardian, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and a company that manages the internet domain name system called Dyn.

"The complexity of the attacks is what’s making it very challenging for us," Dyn’s Chief Strategy Officer, Kyle York, said, according to Reuters.

According to Dyn, the attacks had affected millions of internet addresses, qualifying the cyberattack as an especially large one.

In the meantime, the FBI and US Department of Homeland Security have opened an investigation.

A group that calls itself “New World Hackers” has claimed responsibility for the attack, and has told AP that more than 10 of their members had participated in the attack, but the claims have yet to be verified.

“We didn’t do this to attract federal agents, only test power,” the group wrote to AP.